Fishing tool



, Sept. 29, 1931. I. THOMAS ET AL 2 Sheets-Sheet l FISHING TOOL Original Filed Feb. 1. 1928 gwoantoz l. THOMAS ETAL Y 1,825,025 FISHING TOOL 0 Original Filed Feb. 1. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 29, 1931.

6301 may Patented Sept. 29, 1931 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE IDRIS THOMAS, OF WHI'ITI-ER, AND ERNEST I. TIIBBET, OF HUNTINGTON PARK,

CALIFORNIA FISHING 52001.

Application filed February 1, 1928, Serial No. 251,032. Renewed November 7, 1930.

This invention relates to a fishing tool for recovering a lost object,'such as a drillingtool or twisted-off drill collar, etc., from a deep well. Fishing tools of this type usually g include slips which are relatively movable and which are actuated in some way from the mouth of the well to cause them to grip the fish.

The general object of this invention'is to 3o However, one of the difficulties arising from the use of a fishing tool which is actuated by a rotary movement, is that unless a torque or twisting stress is maintained in the tool string after the fish has been caught, the slips may become loose. One of the objects of this invention is to overcome this ditliculty and to provide a fishing tool which will readily actuate the slips by the rotary movement to grasp the fish, and which is so constructed that the weight of the fish or lost string of casing will operate to increase the grip or bite of the slips as soon as the upward pull of the tool string occurs after the fish -is caught.

Though in the usual operation of the tool the fish will be caught by a relative rotation of the parts of thetool, the tool is so constructed that the fish may be caught by a relative vertical movement of the parts, and released by relative rotation of the parts. While it is preferable to catch the fish by a relative rotary movement when operating in deep wells, in shallower wells it is feasible, with our fishing tool, to catch fish by a relatively upward movement of the tool string, thereby causing an upward movement of some parts of the tool with relation to other parts, which movement will project the slips toward the fish to grip the some.

' drill column.

The invention may be applied to inside or outside fishing tools.

The tool has a wedge part with thrust faces that force the slips against the fish. By effecting a relative rotation of the wedge part with respect to the slips,'the thrust faces are brought out of line with the slips, thereby releasing the slips.

Further objects of the invention .will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combinations of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an eflicient fishing tool.

A preferred embodiment is found in the specification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a fishing tool embodying our invention, certain parts being shown in elevation and others in longitudinal section. This view shows the keys in elevation. It illustrates an embodiment of the .invention as adapted to an inside fishing tool or spear.

Figure 2 is a horizontal cross sectionon the line 22 of Figure 1, but, in addition,

illustrating the manner in which the tool grips the inside of a twisted-off casing or This view shows the device in its gripping position.

Figure 3 is ahorizontal cross section on the line 33 of Figure 1, and particularly illustrating the construction of the device in the vicinity of the upper ends of the slips.

Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4-5 of Figure 1, illustrating the relation of the parts when the slips are in the retracted position which they have when the spear is being passed into the upper end of the fi h Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, and also taken on the line 45 of Figure 1, but this view illustrates the relation of parts when the slips have been moved into their gripping position by the rotation of the body of the tool in anti-clockwise direction.

Fig re 6 is a horizontal section taken on the 11'. e 6-6 of Figure land illustrating details of an apron or collar, which we pre-,

' Figure 6, but is upon an enlarged scale.

Figure 8 is a vertical-section through an outside fishing tool, and Figures 9 and 10 are horizontal sections through} this view, taken on the line 9 10.

In practicing the invention, we provide an elongated retaining member for carrylng the jaws or gripping slips that gri the lost article or fish, which is" to e recovered from the well; this retaining member has curved eccentric faces which are eccentric to its lon itudinal axis. In addition to these, curved aces are inclined longitudinally with respect to the axis of the tool and in a direction which will operate to ti hten the grip of the slips on the fish aer the fish has been caught by the rotation of the tool. Slips of arcuate form are carried by the retaining member, and they have curved faces on one side to cooperate with the curved faces of the retaining member, and have teeth on their opposite sides to the fish. The construction is such that after the fishing tool has been slipped over or into the lost article,

a relative rotation of the retaining member 'will cause a relative movement of the slips along the eccentric curved faces, and thereby cause the slips to move forward and grip the fish. An opposite rotation will release the fish. For this purpose the thrust faces on the mandrel, or body, have relieved, or cut-back faces, that permit the slips to recede when this releasing rotation occurs. In the case of an outside fishing tool, in the gripping movement the slips, of course, would approach each other. In the case of an inside fishing tool, the slips would move outwardly to grip the inside wall of the tubular object, such as a twisted-off drill pi e.

In Figure 1 we illustrate the preferred Y embodiment of an inside fishing tool.

This tool has a body 1 in the form of a mandrel, the. upper end of which is formed into a head 2 with means, such as a threaded box 3, to enable it to be attached'to the lower end of the tool string. The middle portion of the body is in the form of a tapered neck 4, having a wedge part and a releasing part, the large end of thefneck being disposed downwardly, and the lower end of the tool being formed by a detachable head '5' which is screwed onto a threaded extension 6 beyond the neck. The tool has a rounded or conical nose 6* at its lower end which facilitates its being thrust into the upper end of the tubing or drill pipe which is to be recovered. The neck is constructed by a relative rotation.

so that a relative upward pull will proje the slips out to grip the casing and so that a relative rotation in the proper'direction will release the slips. For this pur ose we prefer to provide the neck with a p urality of curved faces 7; these faces are referably two in number and disposed su stantially diametrically opposite to each other. In the present instance relief faces are provided which will be brought in back of the sli s This is preferab y accomplished by providing faces disposed eccentrically to the longitudinal axis of the body 1, because the low end of the faces will become relieving faces when the releasing rotationoccurs.

Corresponding to each of the curved faces 7, we provide gripping members or slips 8 (see Figure 2). hesg slips are in arcuate form, but in the present instance are of gradually increasing width from one edge to the other in a circumferentialdirection. In other words, they may be described as curved wedges. Fi re 2 shows these slips in a gripping positlon, the high portion of each curved face or cam 7 being dis osed nlearly opposite to the thick edge 0 the s 1 I n the collapsed condition of the tool when it is lowered into the well, the butt end 9 of each slip would lie substantially In using the tool, it should be understood that it would be lowered into the. well in its collapsed condition, and after being introduced into the upper end of the fish, the tool string would be given a rotation in a direction to move the slips a ainst the inner face of the wall ofthe sh. As illustrated in Figure 2, this direction of rotation would be left-hand, or anti-clockwise, but this would depend upon the character of the thread in the tool string, and would be the same as the thread. In other words, if the tool string joints had right-hand threads, the rotation would be in a righthand direction.

The body of the tool is provided with stantially in,

" posite points of the opening 22 to keep this same diameter as the head 2,.the inner side of its wall is formed of two curved faces 13 and 14, which correspond to the faces 7 of the neck 4 and cooperate with them to form curved guide slots 15 in which the tang moves when the slip has its different movements. In other words, these slots 15 permit freedom of movement of each slip and the neck relatively to each other. Furthermore,. it should be understood that the tangs are not secured in any way to the up:

er head 2, and there is erfect, but limited,

reedom of movement 0 the slips in a vertical direction, or longitudinally of the axis of the tool.

The lower end of each slip is provided with a tang 16 similar to the tang 12 at its upper end, and the tangs at the two ends are in line with each other. The lower ends of the slips are held in place through the agency of a retaining apron or collar 17 (see Figure 1), which performs a function similar to that of the apron 13. This apron 17 is constructed on its inside in a manner similar to the interior of the apron 13 (see Figure 5). In other words, the tangs 16 are freely movable in a rotary direction in the guide slot 18 formed between the eccentric faces of the neck 4 and the parallel or eccentric curved faces on the inner side of the apron.

.The upper apron 13 may be rigidly secured to the head 2 by a tight key 19. The lower apron 17 has an integral disc 20 at its lower end with an opening 21 which seats over a plain cylindrical neck 22 and seats against an annular shoulder 23 of varying width, which is at the lower end of the tapered neck 4.. Two keys 24 are provided which fit into slots 25 at diametrically opapron from changing its alignment. The apron is held in place by the head 5, already referred to, when it is screwed onto the threaded lower end of the mandrel.

The outer faces of the slips are provided with annular wickers 26 which incline upwardly, and these wickers are arranged in 1 two zones between which a belt 27 of ina cord 28 of cotton or similar material,

which is simply tied into a knot around the slips, as at 29. After the tool has been lowered to the position in which it is to be actuated, the rotation of the body of the tool will cause the string to break. It is not necessary, however, that the slips should be at their highest position. It is necessary,

however, to have them commence to operate at a position above their extreme low position, because after they have been locked 'or gripped against the fish, a slight relative downward movement of the slips can occur on the tapered neck when the tool.

string is pulled upwardly. This will causev the slip to bite more firmly into the wall of the fish.

In operating the tool the slips can be caused to engage the fish by a relative upward movement of the wedge part of the tool, and the fish can afterward be released by relative rotation of the wedge part with respect to the slips, thereby moving the' high part, that is to say, the'thrust face of the wedge part, out of line with the slips.

When the invention is embodied in an outside fish, we prefer to employ a 0011- struction such as illustrated in Figures 8 to 10, inclusive. In this case the retaining member for the slips 30 is in the form of a tubular mandrel or barrel 3]., having the chamber 32 in its interior in which the slips are retained. The interior side of the wall of this chamber is formed with a plurality (for example, two) arcuate or curved faces 33, which are eccentric to the axis of the fishing tool. In this way two diametrically opposite shoulders 34 are formed, against which the wide edges 35 of the slips are normally placed. These slips have teeth or wickers 36 on their inner sides,-and have curved outer faces 37 which cooperate with the cam faces 33. Figure 10 shows the slips in their withdrawn position. By rotating the fishing tool in a left-hand direction, the slips will be projected inwardly, as indicated in Figure 9, so as to cause them to grip the fish over which the fishing tool has been thrust. The slips are retained at their lower ends by means of a shoe 38, which is screw threaded into the lower end of the shell or barrel 31. The upper end of the tool has a head 39 with a tapered threaded box 40 to enable it to be attached to the lower end of the tool string.

If desired, the middle portion of the slips may be formed of the belt 41 of teeth, which should incline in the direct-ion indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 9.

The bore through the shoe 38 has a large inclined counter bore 42 at its lower endto facilitate passing the shoe over the upper end of the firsh.

If desired, each slip may be provided with a light leaf spring-43, which is placed in the shallow circumferential groove 44 at about the middle of the slip. This spring exerts its force in a direction to spring the slips inwardly toward the axis of the tool.

will cause the slips to increase their grip on.

the fish as soon as the tool string is pulled upwardly.

The head 39 has a water bore 47 extendmg down through it for carrying water down through the tool. A similar small water bore 48 is provide which extends constantly down through the interior of the fishing tool illustrated in Flgure 1.

The fishing tool can be released from the fish either by a downward movement of the tool relatively to the fish or by a rotary movement of the tool relatively to the fish or by a combination of the two movements.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and we do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor. in the claims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

We claim:

1. A fishing tool for recovering 10st objects from a well, having an elongated tapered retaining member for carrying sllps, said retaining member having curved eccentric faces eccentric to its longitudinal axis,

and slips in arcuate form carried by the retaining member, having curved faces on one side to cooperate with the curved faces of the retaining member, and having teeth on their opposite sides, said retaining members and said slips cooperating upon a rotation of the retaining member on its longitudinal axis to move the slips to grip the lost object, the said taper of the retaining member being in a direction to tighten the slips on the lost object when the retaining member is pulled upwardly.

2. In a fishing toolfor fishing lost objects out of a well, the combination of an elongatedbody, a head at each end of the body, a plurality of slips carried by the body between the heads and retained by the said heads, said body having a plurality of curved eccentric faces eccentric to its longitudinal axis, said slips having curved faces on one side corresponding to the first-named faces, and having teeth on their other sides and cooperating with the said body upon a relative rotation of the body with, respect to tation o the slips on its longitudinal axis, to move the slips to grip the lost object, the said curved faces of the said body being inclined lon tudinally of the body in a dlrection to tig ten the slips on the object when the body israised.

-3. In a fishing tool for fishing lost objects out of a well, the combination of a retaining member in the form of an elongated body, a head at each end of the body, including a detachable head having a thread connection with the body, a plurality of slips carried b the body between the heads and retained y the heads, said body having a plurality of curved and eccentric faces eccentric to its longitudinal axis, said slips being of tapered orm having curved faces on' one side corresponding to the said eccentric faces, and having teeth on their other sides, said retaining member and said sli s cooperating upon a relative rotation of t e retaining member with respect to the slips on its longitudinal axis, to move the slips to grip the lost object, the said curved faces of said body being inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of said retaining member and operating to tighten the grip of the slips on the lost object when the body is raised.

4. In a fishing tool for fishing lost ob- JGCtS out of a well, the combination of a body consisting of a mandrel having a tapered neck with the large end of the neck disposed downwardly, a plurality of slips carried on the outer side of said mandrel, means for retaining the same on the said neck while permitting free-longitudinal movement of the slips on the neck, said neck having formed thereon a plurality of curved eccentrlc faces eccentric to its longitudinal axis, said slips having curved faces on their inner sides corresponding to the first-named faces, having teeth on their outer sides, and cooperatin with said body upon a relative rothe body on its longitudinal axis, to move the slips outwardly to grip the lost ob set, the said tapered neck operating to tighten the grip of the said slips when the body is raised.

5. In a fishing tool for fishing lost obects out of a well, the combination of a body consisting of a mandrel having a tapered neck with the large end of the neck disposed downwardly, a plurality of slips carried on the outer side of said tapered necks and having tangs at their ends extendmglongitudinally of the body, said body havlng annular aprons extending over said tangs and cooperating, with the same to retain the slips and permit relative lon itudinal movements of the slips on the neck, said neck having a plurality of curved eccentric faces eccentric to its longitudinal axis, said slips having curved faces on theirinner sides correspondlng to the first-named faces, having teeth on their outer sides, andcooperating with the said neck upon a relative rotation of the body on its longitudinal axls, to move the slips outwardly to grip theflost object, the said ta ered'neck operatmg to tighten the grip o the sa1d slips when the body is raised.

6. In a'fishing tool for fishing lost objects out ofa well, the combination of a body consisting of a mandrel with a tapered neck, having the large end of the neck disposed "downwardly, a pair of slips earned on the outer side of said tapered neck, each I I to move the slips outwardly to grip the lost object, said tapered neck operating to tighten the grip of the said slips when the body is raised.

, 7'. In a fishing tool for fishing lost objectsout of-a well, the combination of a body consisting of a mandrel with a tapered neck, having the large end of the neck disposed downwardly, a pair of slips carried on the outer side of said tapered neck, each of said slips having a tang at its upper end and a tan at its lower end extending longitudinally o the said body, said body having annular aprons extending over said tangs, to retain the slips .while permitting longitudinal movement of the slips on the neck, said neck having a pair of curved eccentric faces eccentric to itslongitudinal axis, said slips having curved faces on their inner sides corresponding to, the first named faces, having teeth on their outer sides and cooperating with said body upon a relative rotation of the body on its longitudinal axis to move theslips outwardly to grip the lost object,

said tapered neck operating to tighten the grip of the said slips when the body is raised, said aprons having eccentric inner faces cooperating with the corresponding eccentric faces of said neck to form arcuate guide slots for said tangs.

8. A fishing tool for recovering lost objectsfrom a well, a plurality of slips, having an elongated retaining member for limiting the movement of the slips, said retaining member having curved eccentric faces eccentric to its longitudinal axis, said slips being of areuate form and carried by the retainin curved aces on one side to cooperate with member, said slips also having the curved faces of the retaining member, and having teeth on their opposite sides, sa1d retaining member and "said slips cooperating upon a rotation of the retaining member on its longitudinal axis to move the slips to grip the lost object.

9. In a fishing tool for fishing lost objects out of a well, the combination of an elongated body, ahead at each end of the body, a plurality of slips carried by the body between the heads and retained by the said heads, said body having a plurality of curved eccentric faces eccentric to its longitudinal axis, said slips having curvedfaces on one side corresponding to the first-named faces, having teeth on their other sides and cooperating with the said body upon a rotation of the body on, its longitudinal axis to move the slips to grip the lost object.

10. As a new article of manufacture a slip for a fishing tool tapering in thickness in a direction longitudinally of the axis of the slip and tapering in thickness in a circumferential direction around the longitudinal axis of the slip.

11. As a new article of manufacture a slip for a fishing tool tapering in thickness in a direction longitudinally of the axis of the slip and tapering in thickness in a circumferential direction around the longitudinal axis of the slip, said slip having a tang of reduced thickness at each end of the same extending longitudinally of the ends of the slip and transversely curved to enable the slip to be retained in a fishing tool.

12. A well tool of the character described including, a body, a wedge part on the body having a thrust face, a slip mounted for cooperative movement along the thrust face to force the slip against the fish, said slip being capable of lateral movement to position out of engagement with the thrust face, and means preventing lateral movement of the slip in one direction on the wedge part.

13. A well tool of the character described including, a body, a wedge part on the body having a thrust face, slips mounted for cooperative movement along the thrust face to force the slip against the fish, said slip being capable of lateral movement to position out of engagement with the thrust face, and stops at the wedge part preventing lateral movement of the slips in one direction on the wedge part.

14. A well tool of the character described including a body having a wedge part tapered longitudinally of the tool, said wedge part being a thrust face, and a slip mounted for co-operative movement along the wedge part at the thrust face to engage the casing,

said slip being capable of lateral movementv out of alignment with the thrust face to 'release the sllp from the casing.

'15. In a well tool of the character described havingslips for engaging a casing,

the combination of a body having a wedge part tapered longitudinally of the tool, slips mounted for cooperative vertical movement along the wedge part to move the slip to engage the casing, said body having a relieved surface at the same level as the said wedge part enabling said slips and body to cooperate by a relative rotation of said body and said slips, to release the slips.

16. In a well tool of the character described having slips'for engaging a casing, the combination of a body having a wedge part tapered longitudinally of the tool, slips mounted for co-operative movement along the wedge part to expand the slips to engage the casing, said body having a relieved surface located at the same level along the length of the body as said wedge part enabling said slips and body to co-operate by a relative rotation of said body and said sli s, to release the slips.

igned at Los Angeles, California, this 26 day of January, 1928.

IDRIS THOMAS. ERNEST I. TIBBET. 

